Services

Family of Blackburn paralysed mum demand answers

THE family of a woman who was paralysed from the neck down after an operation on her spine has asked a national investigator to look into her case.

Jean Hannon, 73, and her relatives have spent more than two years persuing a complaint against Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [LTHFT], but have seen their claims rebuffed by medics.

The Blackburn family have now turned to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, who is now looking at the case before deciding whether to investigate fully.

The complaint centres around the care given to Mrs Hannon after a laminectomy at Royal Preston Hospital in August 2011, which removed a section of vertebrae to relieve pressure on a nerve.

Son Terry said he visited Mrs Hannon after the successful operation, but found she was ‘unattended in a standard chair and slumped forwards with shear agony on her face’.

Another patient on the ward claimed she had been in that position for 90 minutes, and when they alerted nurses to the problem they insisted she should get back into bed by herself, Terry has claimed.

Mrs Hannon was eventually hoisted back into the bed after another ten minutes, but the family believe the episode caused damage to her spine and resulted in her serious deterioration over the next week.

Terry, 53, of Kingsley Close, said: “We’ve had umpteen meetings with the hospital and they haven’t come up with any answers about what went wrong. She walked into the hospital with some pain in her back and came out as a quadriplegic.”

The Lancashire Telegraph featured Mrs Hannon’s plight in 2012 as she battled successfully for the NHS to help fund her ongoing care at her home in Knuzden Brook.

The family was also hit by tragedy in 2006, when Terry’s 22-year-old son Matthew was killed in a 60mph car crash after racing his friend along Livesey Branch Road.

In their official response to the family’s complaint, doctors at LTHFT said they were unable to explain why Mrs Hannon’s condition had deteriorated, but did not accept any failings in her care.

The letter said it was ‘entirely appropriate’ for Mrs Hannon to get out of bed once nurses were happy with her progress.

Karen Partington, chief executive, said in a statement yesterday: “We appreciate that this has been an extremely difficult time for Jean Hannon and her family.

“We did make a number of attempts to resolve the complaint at a local level which included several members of staff meeting with the family of Jean Hannon, but regrettably we were unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

“We did advise the family of their rights to contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) if they felt that their complaint had not been resolved, as we do with all complainants.”

Comments

The PHSO us a waste of time.
It only upholds1.4percent of cases.
A good no win/no fee lawyer is a better bet.Anne teak

The PHSO us a waste of time.

It only upholds1.4percent of cases.

A good no win/no fee lawyer is a better bet.

Score: 3

Rubberduck67
7:20am Sat 22 Feb 14

Unfortunatly in my opinion, mistakes made by medics in the nhs just go in the bin. There is no one to answer to. They constantly avoid issues and pass the book. Delay things to the point where most people just give up.

Just go and sit in any department and watch. It's laughable.

Unfortunatly in my opinion, mistakes made by medics in the nhs just go in the bin. There is no one to answer to. They constantly avoid issues and pass the book. Delay things to the point where most people just give up.
Just go and sit in any department and watch. It's laughable.Rubberduck67

Unfortunatly in my opinion, mistakes made by medics in the nhs just go in the bin. There is no one to answer to. They constantly avoid issues and pass the book. Delay things to the point where most people just give up.

Just go and sit in any department and watch. It's laughable.

Score: 1

2 for 5p ridesagain
8:02pm Sun 23 Feb 14

So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE.
Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan.
So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan .
That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.

So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE.
Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan.
So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan .
That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.2 for 5p ridesagain

So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE.
Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan.
So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan .
That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.

Score: -3

F35-B*
12:03am Mon 24 Feb 14

2 for 5p ridesagain wrote…

So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE. Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan. So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan . That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.

First of all the NHS is not 'FREE", it is partly funded by taxes and NI contributions. Secondly, are you saying that if she had paid privately for the operation she can complain and have an investgation launched into the post operative care that she received? Just because it is on the NHS doesn't mean that people should have to tolerate a sub standard level of care. At no point in the article was compensation mentioned.

[quote][p][bold]2 for 5p ridesagain[/bold] wrote:
So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE. Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan. So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan . That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.[/p][/quote]First of all the NHS is not 'FREE", it is partly funded by taxes and NI contributions. Secondly, are you saying that if she had paid privately for the operation she can complain and have an investgation launched into the post operative care that she received? Just because it is on the NHS doesn't mean that people should have to tolerate a sub standard level of care. At no point in the article was compensation mentioned.F35-B*

2 for 5p ridesagain wrote…

So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE. Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan. So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan . That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.

First of all the NHS is not 'FREE", it is partly funded by taxes and NI contributions. Secondly, are you saying that if she had paid privately for the operation she can complain and have an investgation launched into the post operative care that she received? Just because it is on the NHS doesn't mean that people should have to tolerate a sub standard level of care. At no point in the article was compensation mentioned.

Score: 1

Homewise
4:11pm Sun 2 Mar 14

F35-B* wrote…

2 for 5p ridesagain wrote…

So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE. Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan. So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan . That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.

First of all the NHS is not 'FREE", it is partly funded by taxes and NI contributions. Secondly, are you saying that if she had paid privately for the operation she can complain and have an investgation launched into the post operative care that she received? Just because it is on the NHS doesn't mean that people should have to tolerate a sub standard level of care. At no point in the article was compensation mentioned.

Totally agree F35-B. I am Jeans son and my Dad and I found Mum slumped in a chair, red in the face,struggling to breathe after she had just had an operation on her spinal column...she walked into the hospital but has now been left quadraplegic and doubly incontinent.

Ill informed luddites like 2 for 5p make the family even more determined to get justice and stop this happening to others.

Thanks for your support.
Terry

[quote][p][bold]F35-B*[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]2 for 5p ridesagain[/bold] wrote:
So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE. Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan. So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan . That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.[/p][/quote]First of all the NHS is not 'FREE", it is partly funded by taxes and NI contributions. Secondly, are you saying that if she had paid privately for the operation she can complain and have an investgation launched into the post operative care that she received? Just because it is on the NHS doesn't mean that people should have to tolerate a sub standard level of care. At no point in the article was compensation mentioned.[/p][/quote]Totally agree F35-B. I am Jeans son and my Dad and I found Mum slumped in a chair, red in the face,struggling to breathe after she had just had an operation on her spinal column...she walked into the hospital but has now been left quadraplegic and doubly incontinent.
Ill informed luddites like 2 for 5p make the family even more determined to get justice and stop this happening to others.
Thanks for your support.
TerryHomewise

F35-B* wrote…

2 for 5p ridesagain wrote…

So then you need a operation and you get one FREE of charge, you also consent to the operation FREE OF CHARGE. Your FREE operation does not go quite to plan. So now you want answers (compo ) for your FREE operation not going quite to plan . That will be the NHS starved of more money that they need to conduct FREE operations for more gratefully people.

First of all the NHS is not 'FREE", it is partly funded by taxes and NI contributions. Secondly, are you saying that if she had paid privately for the operation she can complain and have an investgation launched into the post operative care that she received? Just because it is on the NHS doesn't mean that people should have to tolerate a sub standard level of care. At no point in the article was compensation mentioned.

Totally agree F35-B. I am Jeans son and my Dad and I found Mum slumped in a chair, red in the face,struggling to breathe after she had just had an operation on her spinal column...she walked into the hospital but has now been left quadraplegic and doubly incontinent.

Ill informed luddites like 2 for 5p make the family even more determined to get justice and stop this happening to others.

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